idosubaru

1. buy 2. pour as said - it's not likely to do anything for your 1997 - it is not a miracle cure-all, it's a specific remedy for a specific issue usually.

yeah they're sick new, i can't believe anyone buys them. sure $80 is good, just a note for future reference if you run across any hard to find, etc parts.

next time you can also post on a forum like this and ask, some of us have ECU's (and other parts) lying around - and ECU's fail so rarely they're nearly worthless, can't get $5 for them. there's a classified forum.

the electric brushes get warn and will intermittently stick for awhile. eventually it just stops working all together. replace the brushes and clean up the insides well - 20 years old warn brush material reside inside the housing and on the commutator/stator. they're $20 or $30 from Subaru and not hard to replace. 1. mark or take a photo of all the wire placements on the back of the motor 2. gentle pulling off the rear cap - it is aluminum and they can crack sometimes 3. clean up everything and install new brushes are you a member of subaruxt.com? there's a write up over there with pictures I believe. you can even sometimes just clean them up without replacing anything too - but for the effort might as well install new brushes - they're probably a quarter century old originals. the power controller can also sometimes be problematic - it's the triangular shaped doodad in the engine bay - follow wires from power steering pump to it.

you never mentioned overheating, that's why LT said you didn't have HG issues. of course, make sure it's not something simple - radiator cap, themostat, radiator clogged, fans not turning on. as to the HG, required stuff: 1. there's a handful of timing chain cover orings - for the rear and front cover. look them up online or just have Subaru list them all out for you. 2. the water pump is chain driven and comes with one oring and you need to purchase another oring with that as well - see parts diagram. 3. there's a water pump/timing cover gasket 4. Resurface the heads - i've done some EZ30 heads and they required A LOT of material removed to get them flat. I didn't actually measure or test them since I always resurface heads as a rule, but they were notably further out than every 4 cylinder EJ25 i've done. 5. Subaru calls for some of the timing related screws to be replaced - I doubt that really matters though. 6. if you're anal about the valve shims you'll need those but won't know until you measure - i just ground down the side of the shim facing away from the cam lobes so the hardening isn't affected. I wouldn't consider anything else required replacement. the chains and guides routinely last a long time on engines that never come apart. the sprockets are solid metal gears and don't need replaced. If the chain, guides, and tensioners are quiet now, you can leave them. If they're noisey - replace it all - the chains and tensioners, and guides. The guides are nylon and get brittle with age - that said no one has really ever had problems with guides, so if replacement is warranted or not is debatable. *** You don't mention year but some early like 2001's had a timing chain noise issue - never caused problems - just noise. If you have one of those early ones, it may be advisable to replace everything or look into what part caused that issue and make sure you replace those. the timing tensioners are supplied by oil pressure - i'm uncertain of their fallibility of maybe change them if the oil change history is unknown or not superb. use subaru's opposed forces website to look up any part numbers I've mentioned.

yes - subaru's don't have a transfer case. without getting semantically technical (i think they're called transaxles technically) - a Subaru transmission includes the front differential, transmission, and rear extension housing (which would do the work of the transfer case basically). if you have internal failure it is normal to just swap the entire transmission. an 87 gl wagon is an EA82 and a hatch is an EA81, i think that distinction may make a difference in which transmission you want. i have an EA82 4WD trans but distance kills that.

yep, i've done the same thing before. it'll be a little legwork but the information to figure it out is out there and accessible online. FSM will show you which way the wires go. they're available free all over the interwebs.

ignore the keyway - use the correct mark on the crank sprocket and align it with the divot in the engine block. but again - people often use the wrong mark - make sure you got the arrow on the outer circumference. google pictures online to clarify.

wheel bearings are nearly impossible to diagnose sometimes - they can (not will, but can) pass every conceivable test known to man. bottom line - there is no definitive test for bad wheels bearings on the vehicle. suggestions: ride in the back - if it's notably on one side - then it's likely wheel bearings. rotate tires and see if the noise moves. temp gun will isolate some. yes brake heat is present but a bad enough bearing may heat the hub up as well after a long drive - that side can be heated more than the other. does it always work - definitely not. but if one side is notably 50 - 100 degrees hotter, that's your man assuming the brakes are working properly. mechanics stethoscope - sometimes turning the wheel by hand and listening around the hub or strut springs will pick up noises. does it always work - definitely not. grabbing the tire and checking for play - I've never seen one fail that test. i've never seen a difficult to assess wheel bearing (and i just looked at one this past weekend) have play on the vehicle. i've seen them be showroom tight and then be all sorts of play once the hub was off the vehicle though.

A new oil pump almost always solves TOD - it's solved like every one I've tried to resolve: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/136547-ea82-er27-ticking-tod-hydraulic-valve-lash-hla-noise-diagnose-and-repair/ Sometimes resealing the oil pump - new mickey mouse, new shaft seal, and seal it - can do the trick. but it sucks to do all that and still have TOD so sometimes simpler to slap another pump on there and be done with it. Owners manual mentions the oil pressure gauge will read zero when warm, tha'ts normal, no indication of any issues at all even though it sounds counterintuitive "WHAT ZERO OIL PRESSURE AAAAHHHH" the gauges aren't accurate or volume is more important than pressures....for some reason it's not a big deal.

ha ha ha i just deleted that comment from my response. shipping A, B, C, D, E, F, G....what do you mean it's a convoluted time sucking juggling process!??!?!? i get why it's like that, but it does take time to manuever and orchestrate a large order without getting 4 huge shipping charges.

pardon the derailment. the advance i go to is super cool. rockauto is good and cheap and having stuff show up on the doorstep is fantastic. and sometimes the closeouts are sickly priced.

you order online and you can choose either one, have it shipped ($75+ is free shipping) or pick it up at your local store. if it's in stock - you order online, enter the code for a huge discount, and drive over there and pick it up, i think they request 30 minutes for processing. i suggest not paying with paypal - it's confused some returns i've had in the past. i met a friend on the interstate last year with a blown radiator. limped it to the off ramp where an advance auto parts was. from a cell phone i bought a radiator for $90, added some antiseize or coolant to get it to $100, then got the $40 off for a total of $60. all done from the cell phone in the parking lot, walked in and picked it up and installed the radiator in the parking lot. he was only an hour late for work. you can only choose "local pick up" if the store has it in stock. which it readily shows you on the computer screen if they have it or not. Subarus are common here so they have most things in stock. if they don't have it in stock - they can order something you want - get it in - then you place the order online. they can get most parts in a day. but it is a very convoluted process for them, so I'd be surprised if they do it more than expect them too. probably depends how nice they are, how well you know them and how busy the store is. it's somewhat of a convoluted process on their end for a few reasons. one of the other AAP in town i can nearly promise would never do that, they are much busier and much more picky about things - like letting friends pick up parts for me, or i pick up parts someone else ordered, etc. the one i go to lets me do darn near anything and are super nice.

i've done them on 80's, to 90's, and 2000's Subarus - they're all the same and pull through easy enough, yours sounds odd. temps, rust, whatever sheared the lug studs damaged the holes, bad stud threads, nut threads may have been compromised and not synching well with lug nuts - chasing both with a tap-die set often makes jobs go smoother....?? i had 3 studs on wheel shear on me at 2am in chartlotte NC years ago. the brake caliper bracket bolts are the same thread pitch as lug studs. i knocked out the sheared off studs, installed two brake caliper bracket bolts (one from each side) and used two nuts (one from each rear wheel) to snug it down. so i had 4 total on that one front wheel - that's plenty. the brake caliper bracket bolts are really short so you have to hold them in place while tightening the lug nut down. finished the 240 mile drive to atlanta and bought new studs the next morning.

i've never done a bed in procedure...not intentionally anyway.

you could check to see if a local place will turn your rotors as well, they can turn that back down to flat if it's new it should still have enough material available for that. feel free to replace one rotor at a time, replacing in pairs is in no ways beneficial, i routinely replace only the bad rotor.

that's a terrible rotor - did that car drive through salt slush and then get parked in grass during the time it sat? i routinely see rotors completely rusted over from sitting, then drive them for awhile as the pads wear the rust away, never seen that happen. i'd just replace the rotor, caliper is probably fine. caliper rebuilds are simple on Subarus, its just one seal. push out pistons, clean up, install seal around piston, reassemble with new dust boot. but calipers are cheap enough that it's rather simple to just get a caliper too.

Advance has tremendous discount codes online - $40 off $100 and gobs of others - your $75 order probably could have been $50...still more expensive but local. What I often do on a $75 order is get $25 of other stuff I need (brake fluid, shop towels, air filter, sealant, grease, MMO) - to get to $100 - then use the $40 off coupon for a total of $60. Only $20 more than Amazon but you got $25 more additional stuff. Not perfect but local is sometimes nice and you can still get a good deal.

relay or temp sensor

This: A properly working cooling system works fine in those conditions. If it's running hot during normal driving, diagnose and repair the cooling system. Sure, tweak some other things later and play with it if you want, but currently something is wrong and I'd start with that first.

that's a long run on sentence, i can't tell exactly what you're asking, but i'd repeat his reply above - why are you replacing pistons?

Gates timing belt kit on amazon - tensioner, idlers, belt. Reseal the oil pump - one oring, crank seal, and sealant around the pump body. Tigthent he backing plate screws while it's removed. Cam seals (and cam orings if it's an older EJ with those). Water pump and Subaru OEM water pump gasket - the aftermarket gaskest suck. Water pump failure on EJ engines is rare and overkill, it's the least likely item on this list to cause issues.

i've just sort of guessed - car is so many feet wide - roughly note where end point is and subtract/add for that - add one foot for a significant bend - has always got me close.

i'd get a second and third opinion, that's an oddball diagnosis for such a new Subaru. needs properly leak tested first i would think. or - empty the system, dump in two (standard sized) cans yourself with the cheapie autoparts store cans and their one-time use gauges. about 21-24 ounces is what they normally takes I think. let us know what happens.

if wiggling it caused issues- may want to verify it's not hte harness or wiring before messing with the injector?